Circular hose knitting machines



Oct. 3, 1961 F. BRASACK ET AL 3,002,366

CIRCULAR HOSE KNITTING MACHiNES I Filed Feb. 1, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Inventor FRITZ BRASACK WILHELM BRALL t orney Oct. 3, 1961 Filed Feb. 1,1960 F. BRASACK ET AL CIRCULAR HOSE KNITTING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ag Q I Inventors FRITZ BRASACK WILHELM BRALL United States Patent3,002,366 CIRCULAR HOSE KNITTING MACHINES Fritz Brasack and WilhelmBrall, Rheydt-Odenkirchen,

Germany, assignors to G. Stibbe & Co. Limited, Leicester, England, acompany of Great Britain Filed Feb. 1, 1960, Ser. No. 5,837 Claimspriority, application Germany Feb. 14, 1959 9 Claims. (CI. 66-42) Thisinvention appertains to circular single cylinder hose knitting machines,and has reference particularly to such machines of the type furnishedwith an inturned welt mechanism including a circular series of loopretaining and transferring instruments accommodated in a dial associatedwith the single needle cylinder.

Two-feed circular hose knitting machines of the type having a rotaryneedle cylinder and stationary cam systems at both feeds are, of course,well known. Such machines are capable of producing heel and toe pouchesby reciprocatory knitting, and the stationary cam box incorporates a camfor bringing back into commission the needles which are raised and idleduring the knitting of either a heel or a toe pouch.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide, in aconventional two-feed circular hose knitting machine as just described,a simple arrangement of additional mechanism whereby the machine isconverted to a three-feed machine.

This primary object is realised, according to this invention, by theprovision, at a location between, on the one hand, the end of the secondfeed and, on the other hand, the aforementioned cam for bringing backinto commission needles which are idle during the knitting of either aheel or a toe by reciprocatory knitting, of a third feed including aclearing cam and a withdrawable stitch cam, the said clearing cam beingconstituted by a cam piece which is movable into and out of an operativeposition within a space provided by a modification of one of the alreadyexisting cams at this location, and both the clearing cam and the stitchcam at this third feed being adapted to be controlled from a controlunit of the machine.

The movable cam piece may advantageously be fitted in a gap formed in anupthrow cam conventionally used for raising needles to a normalrun-through, e.g. tucking level after they have been retracted toknocking-over level by the stitch cam at the second feed.

The withdrawable stitch cam included in the third feed may be slidablymounted in the stationary cam box for movement into and out of itsoperative position.

A further object of the present invention is to provide, in aconventional two-feed circular hose knitting machine of the typereferred to converted to a three-feed machine as hereinbefore described,simple additional mechanism enabling two-feed splicing to be produced.

To this end, an additional jack raising cam is provided in conjunctionwith the second feed for action on selected needle-actuating jacks forthe purpose of raising the corresponding needles to splicing height atthe said second feed; moreover, to facilitate splicing at the secondfeed, the normal clearing cam at the latter is adapted to be withdrawnand substituted by a minimum height clearing cam in the form of a campiece which is movable into and out of an operative position within aspace formed by gapping the conventional upthrow cam located in advanceof the said normal clearing cam.

In carrying out the invention, it is advantageous to provide at theadded third feed a plurality of interchangeable yarn guides arranged tobe selectively operated under control exercised from the control unit.

At the added third feed, moreover, there is provided a sinker retractingpart which may conveniently be so arranged as to be actuated fromdrum-controlled connections serving also to actuate a correspondingsinker retracting part at the second feed.

During withdrawal from action of the third feed, in company with thesecond feed, prior to the commencement of a heel, the movement of therelevant yarn guide towithdraw its yarn from knitting at the said secondfeed may advantageously cause a yarn-engaging finger associated with theguide to sweep the withdrawn yarn into a trapper.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood and readilycarried into practical efiect, specific constructional examples of thevarious modifications of, and additional attachments applied to, aconventional two feed circular hose knitting machine to convert it intoa three-feed machine capable of splicing at two feeds will now bedescribed with reference to the accompanying purely diagrammaticdrawings, wherein,

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary and exploded mainly perspective view of thenecessary additional cams and attachments and the connections foroperating the same under the control of the control drum of the machine,

FIGURE 2 is a developed layout of the conventional needle andneedle-actuating jack cam systems of a twofeed circular hose knittingmachine of the type concerned,

FIGURE 3 is a similar developed layout of the needle cam system per seshowing the modifications and additions necessary to provide the thirdfeed, and

FIGURE 4 is a development of the jack cam system illustrating theaddition of the jack raising cam necessary to provide the two feedsplicing.

In FIGURE 1, the heads of a few of the latch needles of the machine areindicated at N. These needles are mounted and work is a rotary needlecylinder. The said cylinder is surrounded by a stationary cam box B ofcylindrical form. In this cam box there are conventionally provided atthe main feed F a forward or laggingstitch cam ST, and a reverse stitchcam RST for use when producing heel or toe pouches by reciprocatoryknitting. GC' is a guard cam and immediately adjacent thereto, there isa feed cam for directing knitting butts KB of the needles on to thestitch cam ST.

For selectively raising needles to a height at which they can take asplicing thread at the main feed F there are provided beneath theneedles nib jacks having operating butts JB. Jacks whose operating buttsare landed on to a jack raising cam RC in advance of the main feed F areelevated to raise the corresponding needles to splicing height SH at thelocation where the splicing feeder (not shown) is provided at such feed.Selected jacks elevated in this way are immediately retracted to thelevel L by a jack return cam JR. At SC is indicated a withdrawablestarting cam for initially raising the jack butts JB from a normally lowinoperative level LL where they pass idly below the jack raising cam RCto the level L at which they are engaged by the last mentioned cam. PCis a finishing cam for acting on the butts SB of all the nib jacks todepress them to the level LL at the termination of a splicing operation.

Immediately beyond the second or auxiliary feed F there is provided inthe cambox B an upthrow cam 1 for action on the knitting butts KB toraise the'needles to a run-through level corresponding to tuck height.

During the knitting of a heel or a toe pouch on the heel and toe groupofneedles by reciprocatory knitting, the needles of the complementaryinstep group are raised to an idle position as is well known. To bringthe instep needles back into commission, after the knitting of a heel ora toe, the knitting butts KB on these needles are acted upon by aso-called heel and toe cam HC which depresses the needles to theaforementioned run-through level. As will be seen, the upthrow cam l islocated 3 between the stitch cam end of the second feed F and the heeland toe cam HC.

There are provided in the cam box B at the second or auxiliary feed F anupthrow cam 3 for raising needle butts KB to tuck height, a withdrawableclearing cam CC adapted, when operative to further raise needles toclear loops from their latches, a guard cam GC and a stitch cam ST Thusin the machine so far described, which is well known, there are only twofeeds F and F and splicing, e.g. sole splicing, can only be produced atthe main feed F To convert this known machine into a three-feed machine,by the addition of a third feed F the upthrow cam 1 is vertically gappedat 1a and there is provided in the gap a vertically movable cam slide 2;the conversion also includes the provision, in the cam box B at P of aretractable stitch cam 5. When the slide 2 is raised to the positionshown in dotted lines in FIG- URE 3, the upthrow cam 1 is converted intoa clearing cam for raising the needles to such a height that the oldloops drawn by the needles at the second feed P will be positioned underthe latches of the said needles. The stitch cam 5, when moved into itsoperative position at the same time that the slide 2 is raised, retractsthe cleared needles, which have taken into their hooks a new yarnpresented at P so that this yarn is formed into new loops and the oldloops are knocked-over.

To enable splicing, e.g. sole splicing, to be produced at the secondfeed F as well as at the main feed F the jack cam system illustrated inFIGURE 4 is provided, immediately after the jack return earn 1 R, with asecond jack raising cam 6. Thus, the butts JB of selected jacks whichare landed on to the raising cam RC to efiect the selective elevation ofneedles to the splicing height SH at the main feed F are alsoautomatically acted upon and raised again by the cam 6 with the sameresult at the second feed F Now needles, e.g. heel and toe needles,which are selectively raised to receive a splicing thread at either ofthe feeds concerned are, of course, automatically cleared. But theremaining unselected needles, e.g. instep needles at the feed mustnaturally also be cleared. However, in regard to the second feed F itwould be disadvantageous to employ the normal clearing cam CC for thispurpose because this cam raises needles too high. It is, in fact,essential that'at the feed F there shall be the maximum possibledifierence in height between the hooks of the needles which areselectively raised to receive the relevant splicing thread, and thehooks of the remaining unselected needles which simply take and knit aground yarn at this feed. To achieve this maximum difference in height,the normal clearing cam CC at feed F is withdrawn and substituted byanother clearing cam 4 of less height, i.e. a minimum height" clearingcam. This cam must, of course, raise the relevant needles to the minimumheight necessary to clear their loops-but no more. As shown in FIGURE 3,the cam '4, which is in the form of -a vertically displaceable slideaccommodated within a gap 3a provided in the upthrow cam 3, serves toraise needle butts of unselected needles to the height CH. Thus, thisclearing cam slide, when operative in its raised position, can be saidto facilitate the taking of the splicing thread (presented at P by thoseneedles having beneath them jacks raised by the cam 6.

Referring to FIGURE 1 it will be seen that the cam slide 2' is connectedwith a pivoted lever 11 which is adapted to-be pulled downwards, toraise the said slide, by means of a Bowden cable 1011. This cable isconnected to a lever which is fulcrumed between its ends and is formedat its end remote from the cable 10a with a toe (not shown) arranged to.be acted upon by a cam on the main control, drum 12 .of the machine. Thelever 10 is actuated to raise the slide 2 after the machine has producedthe make-up or set-up courses and when the third feed F is brought intooperation. At the same time the stitch cam 5 is projected into itsoperative position by means of a pivoted lever 16 which is controlledfrom the drum 12 through the medium of connections comprising afulcrumed lever 13 having a toe to be acted upon by a cam 12a on thesaid drum, a rod 14 and a bell-crank lever 15. A tension spring 15aserves to connect the levers 15 and 16.

At the third feed F there are provided, in the illustrated example, twopivoted and interchangeable yarn guides 18 and 19 arranged to beoperated selectively for feeding one of two alternative yarns to theneedles at this feed. Levers 20 and 21, also controlled from the drum12, are employed for operating the yarn guides 18 and 19 according toknitting requirements. The movements of the cam levers 20 and 21 aretransmitted through vertical rods 22 and 23 to pivoted members 24 and 25arranged for action upon the yarn guides 19 and 18 respectively.

At the third feed F there is'also provided a sinker retracting part 29mounted in a ring 29a and this part is adapted to be withdrawn, to causethe conventional outside sinkers (not shown) to execute the necessarymovements at the feed, by means of connections influenced by an existingrod 26 in the machine. This rod 26, controlled from the drum 12, is theone which serves to actuate a corresponding sinker retracting part atthe second feed F As will be seen in FIGURE 1, a Bowden cable 27aclamped by means of a collar 27 upon the rod 26, is connected at itsupper end with a centrally pivoted lever 28 arranged for actuating thesinker retracting part 29. Thus, as the rod 26 moves downwards, wheneverthe second feed is brought into commission, the bowden cable 27a will bepulled down to withdraw the sinker retracting part 29.

Prior to the commencement of a heel by rec-iprocatory knitting it is, ofcourse, necessary first to withdraw from action both of the auxiliaryfeeds F and F During such withdrawal of the third feed F the yarn guideI19 (or 18) is raised to withdraw its yarn from knitting. According toafurther feature of the invention, the said withdrawn yarn isautomatically engaged and swept into a trapper 31. For this purposethere may conveniently be provided a yam-engaging finger such as 30which extends into the needle cylinder, the arrangement being suchthatpas the yarn guide 19 (or 18) is raised, the finger 30 will engagethe partly withdrawn yarn and push it into the trapper 31. The movementof the said finger for this purpose is controlled by a fixed guide 32supported upon the cam box B.

For efiecting upward displacement of the cam slide 4 in the upthrow cam3 preparatory to carrying out twofeed splicing, an existing drum cam 33is built up, by the addition of a portion 33a to an increased heightwhereby the conventional racking lever (not shown) is caused to make anadditional movement. This movement is transmitted, through the medium ofa rod 34 and a bell-crank 35, to another rod 36. To the rod 36 issecured a collar 37 in which is clamped one end of a draw cable 39 theopposite end of which is anchored to. a spring-controlled rocking lever38 by which the cam slide 4 is raised.

I claim:

1. A circular hose knitting machine adapted to produce circular fabricby rotary motion as well as heel and toe pouches by reciprocatorymotion, comprising, in combination, a rotary needle cylinder, needleswith knitting butts working in said cylinder, a stationary cam boxsurrounding the latter, forward and reverse stitch cams provided in thecam box at a main feed, a withdrawable clearing cam and a stitch cam inthe said cam box at a second feed, a heel and toe cam in the cam boxadapted, by action on appropriate knitting butts, to bring back intocommission needles which are idle during the knitting of a heel or a toepouch by reciprocatory knitting, an upthrow cam located between thestitch cam at the second feed and the aforesaid heel and toe cam, saidupthrow cam having therein a gap and acting on knitting butts to raiseneedles to a normal run-through height corresponding to tuck heightafter they have been retracted to knocking-over level by the stitch camat the second feed, a third feed including a clearing cam piece and awithdrawable stitch cam, the said clearing cam piece being movable intoand out of an operative position within the gap in the upthrow cam andserving, when operative, to convert said upthrow cam into a completeclearing cam, and the withdrawable stitch camat the said third feedbeing between said upthrow cam and the heel and toe cam, a control unit,and operating connections between said unit and the clearing cam pieceand the stitch cam at the third feed.

2. A circular hose knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein thesaid movable clearing cam piece is in the form of a verticallydisplaceable slide.

3. A circular hose knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein thewithdrawable stitch cam at the third feed is mounted for movementslidably into and out of its operative position. I

4. A circular hose knitting machine adapted to produce circular fabricby rotary motion as well as heel and toe pouches by reciprocatory motioncomprising, in combination, a rotary needle cylinder, needles withknitting butts working in said cylinder, a stationary cam boxsurrounding the latter, forward and reverse stitch cams provided in thecam box at a main feed, a withdrawable clearing cam and a stitch cam inthe said cam box at a second feed, selectively operable needle-actuatingjacks with operating butts placed below the needles, a jack raising camat the main feed for action on the butts of selected jacks for thepurpose of elevating the latter and thereby raising correspondingneedles to slicing height at the said main feed, a jack return cam forretracting said elevated jacks, a further jack raising cam inconjunction with the second feed whereby selected jacks elevated at themain feed are automatically and similarly elevated at the second feed toproduce two-feed splicing, a heel and toe cam in the cam box adapted byaction on appropriate knitting butts, to bring back into commissionneedles which are idle during the knitting of a heel or a toe pouch byreciprocatory knitting, an upthrow cam located between the stitch cam atthe second feed and the aforesaid heel and toe cam, said upthrow camhaving therein a gap and acting on knitting butts to raise needles to anormal run-through height corresponding to tuck height after they havebeen retracted to knocking-over level by the stitch cam at the secondfeed, a third feed including a clearing cam piece and a withdrawablestitch cam, the said clearing cam piece being movable into and out of anoperative position within the gap in the upthrow cam and serving, whenoperative, to convert said upthrow cam into -a complete clearing cam,and the withdrawable stitch cam at the said third feed being betweensaid upthrow cam and the heel and toe cam, a control unit, and operatingconnections between said unit and the clearing cam piece and the stitchcam at the third feed.

5. A circular hose knitting machine according to claim 4, wherein tofacilitate splicing at the second feed the withdrawable clearing camthereat is adapted to be substituted by a further clearing cam of lessheight whereby there is achieved a maximum difference in height betweenhooks of the needles which are selectively raised to splicing height atthe second feed and hooks of the remaining unselected needles at saidlast mentioned feed.

6. A circular hose knitting machine adapted to produce circular fabricby rotary motion as well as heel and toe pouches by reciprocatory motioncomprising, in combination, a rotary needle cylinder, needles withknitting butts working in said cylinder, a stationary cam boxsurrounding the latter, forward and reverse stitch cams provided in thecam box at a main feed, a withdrawable clearing cam and a stitchcam inthe said cam box at a second feed, selectively operable needle-actuatingjacks with operating butts placed below the needles, a jack raising camat the main feed for action on the butts of selected jacks forthepurpose of elevating the latter and'thereby raising correspondingneedles to splicing height at the said main feed, a jack return cam forre tracting said elevated jacks, a further jack raising cam inconjunction with the second feed whereby selected jacks elevated at themain feed are automatically and similarly elevated at the second feed toproduce two-feed splicing, an upthrow cam immediately in advance of thewithdrawable clearing cam at the second feed, said upthrow cam acting onknitting butts andhaving therein a gap, an additional clearing cam whichis movable into and out of an operative position, these movements beingwithin the gap in the upthrow cam, and the additional clearing cam, whenoperative, replacing and being of less height than said withdrawableclearing, cam to facilitate splicing at the second feed by ensuring thatthere is a maximum difference in height between hooks of the needleswhich are selectively raised to splicing height at the second feed andhooks of the remaining unselected needles at said last mentioned feed, aheel and toe cam in the cam box adapted, by action on appropriateknitting butts, to bring back into commission needles which are idleduring the knitting of a heel or a toe pouch by reciprocatory knitting,a second upthrow cam located between the stitch cam at the second feedand the aforesaid heel and toe cam, said second upthrow cam havingtherein a gap and acting on knitting butts to raise needles to a normalrun-through height corresponding to tuck height after they have beenretracted to knocking-over level by the stitch cam at the second feed, athird feed including a clearing cam piece and a withdrawable stitch cam,the said clearing cam piece being movable into and out of an operativeposition within the gap in the second upthrow cam and serving, whenoperative to convert said second upthrow cam into a complete clearingcam, and the withdrawable stitch cam at the said third feed beingbetween said second upthrow cam and the heel and toe cam, a controlunit, and operating connections between said unit, and not only theadditional clearing cam at the second feed but also the clearing campiece and the withdrawable stitch cam at the third feed.

7. A circular hose knitting machine according to claim 6, wherein thesaid additional clearing cam at the second feed is moved and controlledfrom a portion of increased height on a cam on a control drum throughintermediate connections.

8. A circular hose knitting machine adapted to produce circular fabricby rotary motion as Well as heel and toe pouches by reciprocatorymotion, comprising, in combination, a rotary needle cylinder, needleswith knitting butts working in said cylinder, a stationary cam boxsurrounding the latter, forward and reverse stitch cams provided in thecam box at a main feed, a withdrawable clearing cam and a stitch cam inthe said cam box at a second feed, a heel and toe cam in the cam boxadapted by action on appropriate knitting butts, to bring back intocommission needles which are idle during the knitting of a heel or a toepouch by reciprocatory knitting, an upthrow cam located between thestitch cam at the second feed and the aforesaid heel and toe cam, saidupthrow cam having therein a gap and acting on knitting butts to raiseneedles to a normal run-through height corresponding to tuck heightafter they have been retracted to knocking-over level by the stitch camat the second feed, a third feed including a clearing cam piece and awithdrawable stitch cam, the said clearing cam piece being movable intoand out of an operative position within the gap in the upthrow cam andserving, when operative, to convert said upthrow cam into a completeclearing cam, and the withdrawable stitch cam at the said third feedbeing between said upthrow cam and the heel and toe earn, a plurality ofinterchangeable yarn guides at the third feed, a control unit, operatingconnections between said unit and the clearing cam piece and the stitchcam at the third feed, and further connections between the said controlunit and the yarn guides at the third feed whereby these guides areselectively operated under control.

9.,A circular hose knitting machine adapted to pro duce'circular fabricby rotary motion as well as heel and toe pouches by reciprocatorymotioncomprising in combination, a rotary needle cylinder, needles withknitting butts working in said cylinder, a stationary cam boxsurrounding the latter, forward and reverse stitch cams provided in thecam box at a main feed, a withdrawable clearing cam and a stitch cam inthe said carn box at a second feed, a heel and toe cam in the cam boxadapted, by action on appropriate knitting butts, to bring back intocommission needles which are idle during the knitting of a heel or a toepouch by reciprocatory knitting, an upthrow cam located between thestitch cam at the second feed, and the aforesaid heel and toe cam, saidupthrow cam having therein a gap and acting on knitting butts to raiseneedles to a normal run-through height corresponding to tuck heightafter they have been retracted to knocking-over level by the stitch camat the second feed, a third feed including a clearing cam piece and awithdrawable stitch cam, the said clearing cam piece being movable intoand out of an operative position within the gap in the upthrow cam andserving, when operative, to convert said upthrow cam into a completeclearing cam, and the withdrawable stitch cam at the said third feedbeing between said upthrow cam and the heel and toe cam, a plurality ofinterchangeable yarn guides at the third feed, a control unit, operatingconnections between said unit and the clearing cam piece and the stitchcam at the third feed, further connections between the said control unitand the yarn guides at the third feed whereby these guides areselectively operated under control, a yarn-engaging finger associatedwith the yarn guides at the third feed, and a trapper to receive andclamp a yarn withdrawn from knitting at the last mentioned feed, thearrangement being such that whenever a yarn guide at the third feed ismoved to effect withdrawal of the yarn from knitting, as when said feedis being put out of action prior to the commencement of knitting a heel,the yarn-engaging finger engages said withdrawn yarn and sweeps it intothe trapper.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,146,647 Page Feb. 7, 1939 2,544,829 Gilbreath Mar. 13, 1951 FOREIGNPATENTS 792,760 Great Britain Apr. 2, 1958

